Show ContentsKale History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The Gaelic name used by the Kale family in ancient Ireland was Mac Ciele, which is derived from the word ciele, which means companion.

Early Origins of the Kale family

The surname Kale was first found in County Mayo (Irish: Maigh Eo) located on the West coast of the Republic of Ireland in the province of Connacht, from before the 12th century.

Early History of the Kale family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Kale research. Another 62 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Kale History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kale Spelling Variations

Names during the Middle Ages were often recorded under several different spelling variations during the life of their bearers. Literacy was rare at that time and so how a person's name was recorded was decided by the individual scribe. Variations of the name Kale include MacHale, McHale, MacHail, McHail, McCale, MacCale and others.

Early Notables of the Kale family

More information is included under the topic Early Kale Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kale Ranking

In the United States, the name Kale is the 15,466th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1


United States Kale migration to the United States +

In the late 18th century, Irish families began emigrating to North America in the search of a plot of land to call their own. This pattern of emigration grew steadily until the 1840s when the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s cause thousands of Irish to flee the death and disease that accompanied the disaster. Those that made it alive to the shores of the United States and British North America (later to become Canada) were, however, instrumental in the development of those two powerful nations. Many of these Irish immigrants proudly bore the name of Kale:

Kale Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Margtt Kale, who landed in Virginia in 1665 2
Kale Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Henry Kale, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1854 2
  • Matt Kale, who arrived in Iowa in 1876 2

Contemporary Notables of the name Kale (post 1700) +

  • Aderonke Kale (1939-2023), Nigerian army psychiatrist who became the first female major-general in the Nigerian Army


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


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